Thinking Out Loud
by PerditaAlottachocolate
Summary: When Ladybug and Chat Noir meet for the first time, they seem to click perfectly, their teamwork seamless as if they could hear each other's thoughts. Or maybe they can? Is this just a kind of miraculous connection or a bond of a totally different type? A Soulmates AU. ML Secret Santa 2019 gift for Janaikam.


_*Marinette/Ladybug's thoughts*_

_Adrien/Chat's thoughts_

* * *

**-1-**

_*I'm scared.*_

Chat Noir froze for a second. Was that his thought? He heard the voice loud and clear, just… without the contribution from his ears.

He shook his head. It was probably just all the excitement from getting a miraculous _and_ a magical makeover in the span of half an hour. He'd have to ask Plagg about that. Maybe it was the little sprite trying to communicate with him after the transformation?

Chat felt a little sting of shame that he hadn't been listening more carefully to the kwami. As much as he seemed to be a natural at this, there were probably some things from Plagg's tutorial that skipped Adrien's attention.

Oh, well. No time to dwell on it now. Stoneheart was about to pulverize the redhead reporter with a soccer goal. Acting purely on instinct Chat threw his baton, extending it at the last moment. The goal bounced off his weapon nicely, missing the girl by centimeters.

_Oh, shit._

That one thought lit up brightly in his thoughts as stone fingers closed over his body and he found himself in rough clutches of the monstrosity.

* * *

Never in her life was Marinette as scared as in that moment, on the roof of Parc des Princes. How did she get roped into this mess, playing a superhero? She'd always been a walking disaster. How could have she believed for even one second, that she could help, make a difference for the better?

She should just run away, before the supervillain gets wind of her melt down. She should return the earrings to Tikki. She was not cut out to be a hero. She was just plain, silly Marinette.

The boy, Chat Noir, seemed to be born for the job. Confident and cocky, he gave the impression of someone in control, who knows exactly what to do. He'd be fine. In fact he'd probably be better off without her, Miss Madlynette Disastrous - Clumsy failure.

She was about to turn around and flee when...

_Oh, shit._

The voice in her head wasn't hers, but the comment was painfully adequate. Chat Noir just got trapped in the granite fist of Stoneheart. Weaponless, as his staff had just helped to protect Alya from being crushed to death.

_Help_.

She needed to help. She had no idea how, but she couldn't just stand and watch. She threw her yoyo at the villain hoping it would know what she needed it to do.

* * *

That settled it. The Bug Lady was crazy. Not only did she pull at his tail, which felt much more than pulling a leather belt should have, but she basically threw him under the bus, or rather back into the stone grip of Stoneheart. And then she jumped right into the villain's other hand. Only…

_*This will work. I've got it. It'll be okay.*_

There was the voice again, no longer scared, but confident and soothing. Chat Noir gave in and simply observed as the insane yet effective plan came to action. Soon, he found himself on the ground again, accompanied by a tall boy who was no longer made of rock.

_*We did it!*_

Maybe the Bug Lady was crazy, but she was awesome at it! If only he knew her name.

_*Ladybug.*_

He smiled. It fit her.

* * *

Marinette simply couldn't believe this was her life now. She was chasing after Alya, who was chasing after Chat Noir, who was chasing after a giant stone monster, who held two of Marinette's classmates hostage.

And she had been right the previous day. She had caused yet another disaster and thanks to her incompetence now there was not one, but a whole army of rocky monstrosities roaming over the streets of Paris.

She felt as if her feet turned to stone as well, set in place, while she watched in silent horror as Alya disappeared under a car thrown by a Stoneheart's minion with such ease, as if it was merely a toy. She could only see Chat's legs dangling pitifully from another Stoneheart clone's fist.

_So this is how I'm gonna die?_

Marinette clenched her fists and narrowed her eyes. No one would be dying today. Not if she could help it. She dug the ornamental box from Alya's bag and slipped the earrings back into place. This time it was as if the world just _clicked_.

* * *

The day just kept getting weirder. First day of school turned out to be a minefield. Thanks to Chloe's efforts he seemed to already have made an enemy out of a cute black haired classmate. The whole gum incident made his stomach twist into a tight knot, the disgust he'd seen on Marinette's face sinking deep into his very bones for some reason. Almost as if he could hear the profanities that she was too polite to utter.

Although he_ did_ befriend his seat buddy, Nino, they never made it past roll call. Who knew the stone giant he encountered the day before was another classmate of his, and that he'd turn into stone so fast? The luck of a black cat.

Maybe he shouldn't feel this way. After all Ladybug did save him and Chloe from certain death. And then she got rid of the swarm of butterflies and challenged the madman who took on the name of Hawkmoth. Well, he might not have been the only crazy person in Paris.

Minutes ago Chat had assured Ladybug they were going to make it. They were needed for the job, and the girl had more than enough wit to come out victorious. So it was probably too late now to question her sanity. She just went on with a crazy scheme of hers, dancing on the top of the Eiffel Tower.

And Chat had no idea how to fix this mess. A scene straight from a King-Kong movie with a stone monster and a petite girl in his grip, tens of meters above the ground. Painfully cliche and even more dangerous.

_*I need to make them kiss. And then catch the akuma.*_

There was that voice again. Not his, but his at the same time. An idea, a solution, a string of instructions at the edge of his subconsciousness. Chat stood to attention before he knew it. How the heck were they supposed to make the akuma and his victim kiss?

And then Ladybug wrapped her yoyo around Stoneheart and pulled. Mylene's lips clumsily landed on the rocky face, performing a very sloppy and possibly rough smooch. Stoneheart froze loosening his grip on Mylene and on something else.

Wait, what?

_*Now for the akuma*_

Right, the akuma that was hiding in the crumpled object in Stoneheart's fist. Well, he wouldn't be a true cat if he didn't have a solution for that. Chat swatted at the falling thing with his staff, sending it straight to Ladybug. She caught it and broke it as if she'd been doing this her whole life. A butterfly, freed from its confinement, took flight into the Parisian sky.

*_Gotcha!*_

Chat drew a breath of relief only to tense again.

_*Oh, no. I can't catch them both.*_

The boy returned to the scene below their position. Mylene and Ivan were falling off the tower. It was time to act.

"Chat Noir, you take care of Ivan!"

How the hell was he supposed to do that? She was the one who could magic out a parachute. He could only destroy things.

_*Use your power to shape the metal. That's still a form of destruction.*_

Well, here's an idea. Too bad Chat had to busy himself with cataclysming poor Eiffel Tower's construction to ponder upon the fact it wasn't his idea at all. Or was it?

* * *

Ladybugs. Ladybugs everywhere. The hum of little wings sweeping over the city and busily restoring things back to order. For Marinette it was exhilarating. She wondered how it must have looked from where Chat was dangling, holding onto Ivan and waiting for the magical insects to take them down.

_It's beautiful. Amazing really._

Ladybug thought there must have been a better way of putting it. She giggled under her breath.

"It's miraculous!" she exclaimed.

There was one more thing to fix. She straightened out the crumpled piece of paper and handed it to Mylene. The girl's eyes lit up in comprehension, as Ivan mumbled a promise under his breath. She hugged the suddenly shy boy, or at least did her best to hug as much of him as she could reach.

"Oh, that's so sweet," Ladybug cooed. "They're made for each other."

_Just like us two!_

She sent Chat a long searching look, but he just fixed her with a cheeky grin that fit him so well. Ladybug felt the beginning of a blush creeping onto her cheeks. Her earrings beeped in warning.

"Uh, oh," she grabbed Chat's paw. His ring beeped as well. "See that? Time to split. See you soon, Chat Noir!"

The dork bowed like a knight. "I can't wait, my Lady."

_My Lady. My Lady. My Ladybug._

The words echoed in Marinette's ears as she made her way back to school. She couldn't shake them off, as much as she couldn't get rid of the warm, fuzzy feeling that dwelled in her stomach.

* * *

_Author's Note: This is chapter 1 out of 3 in this story. It's been created for Janaikam as a gift in ML Secret Santa exchange on Tumblr. In case this wasn't obvious this is a Soulmates AU where you can hear your soulmate's thoughts once the bond appears after you meet them. Stay tuned for the rest of the fic and in the meantime let me know what you think. I greatly appreciate your reviews, favs and follows._

_A huge thank you to my dear beta Remasa for all her help with this story!_


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